It’s Not Repaired Yet?

As I’ve shared with people the past several days that YOAM is preparing to be one of the first teams allowed into the Florida Keys to begin housing repairs, I’ve overwhelming gotten the same response over and over, “Oh man, you mean they haven’t even started yet? I thought for sure it was done by now!”

Our attention spans are short, culturally, and, as a result, the news has mostly stopped covering the hurricane damage. (We applaud Al Roker and the Today show for covering it recently.) But I think Dale Earnhardt Jr. describe the situation best in talking with Fox Sports on the 18th of this month:

”We have a lot of friends down there that were affected by that. On the drive from Key West all the way up here, oh man, they are still really, really struggling. A lot of people still displaced. A lot of people lost their homes. It is still a very difficult and challenging situation for a lot of people in the middle Keys.”

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At least five state parks are still closed due to damage and FEMA is estimating that 25% of the homes in the area are simply gone – wiped from the earth in a matter of moments. People’s lives are in shambles, and it will be years before the cleanup is done. Don’t fall victim to the “Out of sight, out of mind mentality.” Help is needed NOW, and that is why YOAM will be going.